We call it the Appleseed Trail and like the Marines, we are looking for a few good men - and women to instruct with the Appleseed program. To get started, you come to an Appleseed shoot. After your second shoot and after you shoot a Rifleman score you can apply to become an IIT. That's an Instructor in Training. Project Appleseed Instructor's don't take a test on line to become certified. We get down in the mud, rain and snow with our shooters. We travel from range to range and sometimes to a gravel pit somewhere. You will learn history you never learned in school and reconnect with the history and heritage of our nation.
We need instructors at what we call home ranges. These are local folks who belong to a club and want to participate in Appleseed as Instructors. We need these folks, but we also need Instructors to spread the word as Paul Revere did. We travel. In 2012 I taught in six states. If we have a shoot scheduled and not enough instructors sign up we fly people to the shoot. We do not cancel shoots due to weather except in extreme situations such as flooded roads or impossible travel such as blizzards.
Oh yeah, we have a Winterseed patch for those who make Rifleman during winter conditions. The patch is blue and white with icicles hanging off it. It is a coveted patch. Down south they have an "inferno-seed" patch for shooters who make Rifleman when the temp is over 100 degrees. That patch is less coveted. It is red and black with flames rising from it.
If all this interests you, the first step is to get off the couch, turn off the TV and register for a shoot. The links are in Tom's post above.
